Baseball Betting system
Image Credit; http://baseballs28thout.mlblogs.com/2013/04/06/player-salaries-and-their-relationship-with-ticket-price/What is a Baseball Betting System and how did they affect the History of Baseball? The answer to that question seems obvious but I wanted to look a bit deeper into baseball history to examine the relationship between Betting/Gambling and the Game of Baseball. What I found was quite surprising and I think you will also.
I looked at the definition of the word Gambling and as a noun is described;
1. The activity or practice of playing at a game of chance for money or other stakes.
2. The act or practice of risking the loss of something important by taking a chance or acting recklessly:
3. If you don't backup your data, that's gambling.
I then looked at the definition of the Baseball and it's definition is described as;
A game of ball between two nine-player teams played usually for nine innings on a field that has as a focal point a diamond-shaped infield with a home plate and three other bases, 90 feet (27 meters) apart, forming a circuit that must be completed by a base runner in order to score, the central offensive action entailing hitting of a pitched ball with a wooden or metal bat and running of the bases, the winner being the team scoring the most runs.
What I find is that there is an inseparable relationship between Baseball and Gambling that was powered by forces totally non related to the Game itself.
The Relationship
Gambling was actually the fuel that skyrocketed the growth of baseball. Gambling is part of the human condition and permanently embedded into the human DNA.
It is the game of baseball, like no other sport, that offered the greatest opportunity to scratch that embedded itch.
The Baseball betting systems is, basically, no different than that used in Football, Basketball or Soccer but Baseball was the first betting system. and all of the others are variations of that same system.
What made Baseball so different is that it incorporates a Stick/Bat. It is that subtle but significant difference that made the game so unique and perfectly suited for Gambling.
WARNING, sports betting and Fantasy Sports is Gambling and you can lose real money. Even though millions of us have played and enjoyed the thrill. Just be aware that, as of today (2016), not every state allows its play.
Enter Sabermetrics
Image Credit; http://www.designnews.com/author.asp?section_id=1386&doc_id=279932Sabermetrics is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. The term is derived from the acronym SABR, which stands for the Society for American Baseball Research.
When you boil it down, sabermetrics is simply a process of slicing and dicing information. The game of Baseball generates more empirical information than any of the Majors sports making subermetrics the nitro methane (fuel) for the growth of Baseball and the Baseball betting systems.
The game of baseball and the ability to Bet or Wage provided a supremely fertile ground for the growth of the sport. Exploiting the many ways to make ore loose money betting on the game of baseball makes it irresistible and inseparable to the game itself.
But Betting Had A Dark Side of Betting
Image Credit; http://blacksoxturningpoint.weebly.com/The first official game of baseball was played on June 19, 1846. I am fairly confident that there was, at least, a couple of bets on the outcome of that first game.
In 1877 four members of the Louisville Grays baseball team were paid by gamblers to affect the outcome of the game. This act was the first documented case of gambling in Baseball and it would rear its ugly head again in 1919 with the Black Sox Scandal.
The effects were devastating to fan confidence and threatened the very life of the game.
In an attempt to control the treat to the Game, Baseball would impose a complete ban on Gambling in baseball and any player found guilty would be banned from the game. This rule against gambling is known as "Rule 21 which was posted on all club houses and dough out walls
Although tattered and bruised baseball survived and flourished. The connection between Gambling and baseball remain unchanged albeit better controlled.
What are Baseball Betting Systems?
Wikipedia describes incorporates Baseball Betting systems under Sports betting systems and is described below.
Sports betting systems are sets of events that when combined for a particular game for a particular sport represents a profitable betting scenario. Since sports betting involves humans, there is no deterministic edge to the house or the gambler. Systems supposedly allow the gambler to have an edge or an advantage.
I detected a little tough-en-cheek with Wikipedia's description, as I don't buy the gambler having the edge part.
I, like most of you, have made a friendly bet on the outcome of a game and even more have thrown in 5 bucks on a world series or NCAA pool at work. That is all part of the Baseball betting system we enjoy today.
There's an entire community of internet and brick and mortar businesses dedicated, exclusively, to Sports Betting. If you want to see how big of a business it has become just Google "Sport Betting Sites" and see what you will find.
Everything from how to guard against Scams to how sports betting works. The list below is but a small preview what is now, a massive business.
Gambling continues to be Baseball's renewable energy for growth and will be forever.
12 of the most popular sports betting sites
Enter at you own risk, sites can be addictive
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